Keep your Pecker Up

I’m a little skint at the moment, so I have to be careful with money till payday at the end of the month. This led to me staying in last night (a Saturday), listening to music and reading.

I decided to watch Pecker on DVD, and so, thought I’d review it this morning.

Pecker is the most underrated of all John Waters’ films, and is definitely my favourite over others in his later output. It doesn’t try to be as obviously bad taste as A Dirty Shame or Cecil B. Demented, but it still carries a sting in the tail. And while seemingly mainstream, Waters manages to smuggle in themes that include “gay-for-pay’ strippers and “teabagging”.

The film has much else to recommend it also; original, funny and has a great soundtrack (as do all John Waters’ films). It stars Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci – when they were both still cute and healthy-looking. And as always, the assortment of Waters-style characters on display is sublime.

The thing I enjoy most about John Waters films in general, is that they are all unmistakably his. He creates his own world for his films to take place (as do David Lynch, Russ Meyer, Lloyd Kaufman etcetera) – and the viewer has to accept it’s rules and logic in order to appreciate it. And if you’re new to John Waters films, it’s possibly wiser to tackle a safer film like Pecker, before watching the likes of Pink Flamingoes (unless you’re like me, and you like to be shocked from the outset).